Somewhere south of Midway Airport, a lonely folding metal chair keeps watch over a tired parking lot and you just can't help but find out what's behind that door... Its a place where the beers are three bucks and no one asks you to wipe your feet first.

More From Billy's Workshop

Checkin' back in with Billy and he's been cranking out a few more axes...

Better than loud

My friend Billy makes guitars. Real Guitars. Loud Guitars. Guitars that scare parents. Builds 'em by hand from the ground up. And his signature sound comes from pickups he winds - yep, by hand - on a spindle he conjured out of an old fan motor. Not much gets done by hand start-to-finish any more. In our modern every day world, we pretty much expect something to be processed with automation somewhere along the line, wether it's our cell phone calls or the cheese on our sandwich.

Not here.

To a craftsman, "by hand" means "repeatable", but not "duplicate". Born of a common parent, each of these guitars grows into what is essentially a solo performance. Turn it up...

Milwaukee Avenue

Milwaukee Avenue runs a strange course diagonally through the city.  It plays host to an eclectic bunch of shops in a wide spectrum of prosperity and despair. One of my ongoing curiosities is the state of the storefronts that line its sidewalks. Some sell an outrageous splash of tchotchkies. Some are under development. More than a few are simply boarded up or papered over, awaiting some new purpose and occupants. It's a constant mix of things on the way out, new ideas on the way in, and some things (like the tchotchkies) that will just never change.

If you love Chicago, you probably love it for its food, its personality and its summer weather. Winter weather is rarely on the plus list. So this is post number 3 about Chicago's winter, but hey, ya shoot what's around ya. And right now, that's winter. One place that's a constant draw for me in the winter is the lakeshore. Lake Michigan can serve up some brutal chill, but it also offers a strange solitude. In a city this size, finding utter solitude can be a rare treat. The winds and snows have reduced the beaches and paths along the shore to elemental simplicity. With the normal distractions of people, sports fields and park benches temporarily wiped away, a new landscape sits and waits patiently to be discovered. 

Inauguration Festivities

  

 

 

Our favorite Chicago photographer headed to D.C. last week to see what all the ruckus was about. Turns out there was quite a party and everybody was there. Among other things, our client, Rock the Vote held a series of concerts, featuring the likes of Sheryl Crow, Citizen Cope and the Beastie Boys, among others. Even Entourage's Adrian Grenier made the scene with his band.

Cloud city

Warm? no. Good time for photographs? Yes. 

Ridiculously low temps do have their redeeming qualities. Lake effect fog wrapped the buildings in a nice, new foundation.